It was Favre from pretty; in fact, it was downright ugly, an anxiety-riddled reminder that Brett Favre won’t be riding in on his green-and-white horse to throw six touchdown passes every Sunday, even when he gets to play the Bengals.

Mama said there’ll be days like this, days when Favre, two days beyond his 39th birthday, needs the cavalry to come riding to his rescue.

Days when Thomas Jones (17 for 65 rushing, 3 for 13 receiving) scores a career-high three touchdowns; days when Leon Washington hands him a short field with 77 yards of punt returns and 65 yards of kickoff returns. Days when Gang Green wakes up in the second half so that a backup quarterback from Harvard named Ryan Fitzpatrick realizes he isn’t playing Columbia.

But to the grizzled old quarterback, and to the franchise that turns its lonely eyes to him as if he were the football Joe DiMaggio, Jets 26, Bengals 14 is Favre From Ugly.

“I don’t believe in ugly wins,” Favre said. “I believe a win’s a win, and that one feels as good as any I’ve been a part of in recent memory.”

This was a day when Favre (25 for 33, 189 yards) was mostly obliged to take what the Bengals were giving him, which, to the chagrin of boo-birds who cannot stand the sight of a conservative gunslinger, were mostly move-the-chains passes rather than the nuclear bombs he hurled at the Cardinals.

But it is inevitable that at some point, Favre will no longer be able to play this timid way, and he will tear the shackles off and Go 4 It. His abject fearlessness, we have learned over the years, can be both a blessing and a curse.

“You can’t play scared,” Favre said. “I’m not saying that has happened, or it happened today. You turn it loose, you let your guys play the way they play and whatever happens, happens.”

What happened on his first possession was Favre losing a fumble while being sacked by Antwan Odom and Chinedum Ndukwe picking it up and making it 7-0 with a 17-yard touchdown. “That happens,” Favre said.

What happened on his first possession of the second half was Favre, second-and-9 at the Cincinnati 23, throwing left across the field for Bubba Franks, only to watch it intercepted at the 3 by safety Marvin White.

“Sometimes you make good decisions, sometimes you make bad decisions,” Favre said. “But you gotta go down swinging, within reason, and you gotta trust the guys around you.”

In Favre, Eric Mangini trusts. “That’s the cost of doing business when you’re gonna throw into tight spaces,” Mangini said.

What happened early in the fourth quarter was a Corey Lynch interception at the 2 after Jonathan Joseph deflected a downfield missile along the Jets sideline for Jerricho Cotchery.

“I felt like in both situations, neither guy was wide open, but I like my chances one on one with those guys,” Favre said. “I think more times we’ll make that play or it’ll fall incomplete.”

Favre, up 20-14, did save his best for the last touchdown drive, hitting Cotchery (8 for 85) on a quick hitch on third-and-4 for 10 yards. It helped that Cotchery made cornerback David Jones miss. “If I complete 25-to-30 balls to these guys, they’re gonna break a few,” Favre said.

Mangini mourned the absence of his wife Julie, who gave birth Friday to their third son, Zack Brett Mangini. “It’s the first time my wife hasn’t been to a game in I don’t know how many years since we’ve been together,” Mangini said.

She didn’t miss much. But next week she can watch a nostalgic Favre return to Oakland, Calif., where he honored his father, who had passed away a day earlier, with a four-touchdown, 399-yard tearjerker in a 41-7 Monday Night victory over the Raiders five years ago. In the meantime, Favre’s 71.3 completion percentage is the highest of his career after five games.

“I’m not here for stats,” the winningest quarterback in NFL history said. “I’m here for wins.”